Tag: guinefort

There are a lot of saints we probably haven't heard of. We're familiar with the popular ones, like Saint Patrick, Patron Saint of People Getting Drunk in His Honor, and Saint Francis of Assisi, known for his strong affection for animals. We know some of the more obscure ones, like Saint Guinefort: We're not sure about Saint Tiggywinkles, but we are in awe of his works.
Tiggywinkles is the world's leading wildlife hospital. It was founded in 1978 by Les and Sue Stocker, along with their son Colin. Until 1983 the Stockers funded their work from their savings. Then in February of that year the project became a Registered Charity with the official title of The Wildlife Hospital Trust.
They've helped a variety of species, including badgers, owls, swan, and deer. During the drought of 1984, they began to see more hedgehogs, and worked to raise awareness of their plight, asking people to leave out water and dog food for them. Many people started looking more closely at their local hedgehogs, and so many were brought in for treatment for injuries that the hospital opened a new shed as a Hedgehog-Only unit, and called it "St. Tiggywinkles."
The hospital continues to look after all species of wildlife that are brought in, rehabilitating and releasing into the wild if possible, or keeping the animals in as natural an environment as possible at the hospital. Euthanasia is a last resort.
While the hospital doesn't turn any wild animal away, avian
prey, or predator

Hedgehogs are still among the favorites.

Some of the animals are up for adoption. If you're looking for a weasel, stoat, or polecat
or perhaps a buzzard or a badger
Or a hedgehog
St. Tiggywinkles is the patron saint of baby wild animals.

Even non-catholics have heard of many of the better known saints in the Catholic Church. There's St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, St. Jude, the patron of lost causes, St. Patrick, the patron saint of green beer, St. Joseph, patron saint of aspirin for children, and St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and the insane, and St. James of infirmary fame.
Canonization, the process in which one becomes a saint, requires evidence of miracles and the Catholic Church doesn't take it lightly, with only about 30,000 people having been admitted to he exclusive club. St. Francis of Assisi was well-known for his eccentric behavior, but the most unique of the saints is Saint Guinefort.
Saint Guinefort was a dog.
Here's a translation of a 13th century account of his deed.
Stephen of Bourbon (Etienne de Bourbon) (died about 1262): De Supersticione:
On the Worship of the Dog Guinefort

Sixthly, I should speak of offensive superstitions, some of which are offensive to God, others to our fellow men. Offensive to God are those which honour demons or other creatures as if they were divine: it is what idolatry does, and it is what the wretched women who cast lots do, who seek salvation by worshipping elder trees or making offerings to them; scoming churches and holy relics, they take their children to these elder trees, or to anthills, or to other things in order that a cure may be effected.This recently happened in the diocese of Lyons where, when I preached against the reading of oracles, and was hearing confession, numerous women confessed that they had taken their children to Saint Guinefort. As I thought that this was some holy person, I continued with my enquiry and finally learned that this was actually a greyhound, which had been killed in the following manner.In the diocese of Lyons, near the enclosed nuns' village called Neuville, on the estate of the Lord of Villars, was a castle, the lord of which and his wife had a baby boy. One day, when the lord and lady had gone out of the house, and the nurse had done likewise, leaving the baby alone in the cradle, a huge serpent entered the house and approached the baby's cradle. Seeing this, the greyhound, which had remained behind, chased the serpent and, attacking it beneath the cradle, upset the cradle and bit the serpent all over, which defended itself, biting the dog equally severely. Finally, the dog killed it and threw it well away from the cradle. The cradle, the floor, the dog's mouth and head were all drenched in the serpent's blood. Although badly hurt by the serpent, the dog remained on guard beside the cradle. When the nurse came back and saw all this she thought that the dog had devoured the child, and let out a scream of misery. Hearing it the child's mother also ran up, looked, thought the same thing and screamed too. Likewise the knight, when he arrived, thought the same thing and drew his sword and killed the dog. Then, when they went closer to the baby they found it safe and sound, sleeping peacefully. Casting around for some explanation, they discovered the serpent, tom to pieces by the dog's bites, and now dead. Realising then the true facts of the matter, and deeply regretting having unjustly killed so useful a dog they threw it into a well in front of the manor door, threw a great pile of stones on top of it, and planted trees beside it, in memory of the event Now, by divine will, the manor was destroyed and the estate reduced to a desert,* was abandoned by its inhabitants. But the peasants, hearing of the dog's conduct and of how it had been killed, although innocent, and for a deed for which it might have expected praise, visited the place, honoured the dog as a martyr, prayed to it when they were sick or in need of something, and many there fell victim to the enticements and illusions of the devil, who in this way used to lead men into error. Above all, though, it was women with sick or weak children who took them to this place. They would go and seek out an old woman in a fortified town a league distant and she taught them the rituals they should enact in order to make offerings to demons, and in order to invoke them and she led them to the place. When they arrived, they would make offerings of salt and other things; they would hang their babies' swaddling-clothes on the bushes roundabout: they would drive nails into the trees which had grown in this place; they would pass the naked babies between the trunks of two trees the mother, on one side, held the baby and threw it nine times to the old woman, who was on the other side. Invoking the demons, they called upon the fauns in the forest of Rimite to take the sick, feeble child which, they said, was theirs, and to return their child that the fauns had taken away, fat and well, safe and sound.Having done this, the infanticidal mothers took their children and laid them naked at the foot of the tree on straw from the cradle; then, using the light they had brought with them, they lit two candies, each an inch long, one on each side of the child's head and fixed them in -the trunk above it. Then they withdrew until the candles had burnt out, so as not to see the child or hear him crying. Several people have told us that while the candies were burning like this they burnt and killed several babies. One woman also told me that she had just invoked the fauns and was withdrawing from the scene when she saw a wolf come out of the forest towards the baby. If maternal love had not made her feel pity and go back for him, the wolf, or as she put it, the devil in the shape of a wolf, would have devoured the baby.When a mother returned to her child and found it still alive, she carried it out into the fast-flowing waters of a nearby river, called the Chalaronne [a tributary of the Sa6nel, and plunged it in nine times; if it came through without dying on the spot. or shortly afterwards, it had a very strong constitution.We went to this place, we called together all the people on the estate, and we preached against everything that had been said. We had the dead dog disinterred, and the sacred wood cut down and burnt, along with the remains of the dog. And 1 had an edict passed by the lords of the estate, warning that anyone going thenceforth to that place for any such reason would be liable to have his possessions seized and then sold.